Spurs 3-1 Swansea U18s - Kieran's verdict

Kieran McKenna insisted there remains room for improvement, despite a 3-1 win for our Under-18s against Swansea City on Saturday.

Goals from Charlie Owens, Samuel Shashoua and Aramide Oteh secured the points in the Barclays Under-18 Premier League contest at the Training Centre.

Under-18s Coach Kieran was naturally pleased to see the boys emerge victorious, but admitted the team’s performance on the pitch didn’t always match the standards expected.

“I thought the scoreline was probably fair on the balance of play and there are positives to take from the game, but to be honest we’re a little bit disappointed with the performance,” he said.

“We’ve set very high standards and expectations for the boys – we want the performances to be at a very high level – and although we scored three really good goals and produced some other good bits of attacking play, we felt we didn’t control the game as well as we should have done.”

Looking at the goals themselves, Kieran praised all three scorers for the way they took their chances and was happy to see striker Aramide net his first Under-18s goal on his first start at this level.

“It’s good for Aramide – he’s a penalty box striker and his goal was typical of his style with a quick reaction from a shot off the post,” he added.

“It’s pleasing for him and also for Charlie Owens to get a goal with a late run from midfield, which is something he’s been working on. Sam Shashoua as well – he came up with a finish that he’s been practicing a lot in training, so in terms of our goals there were some real positives to take.”